Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving
By Paul Feldman on April 4, 2017
Editor's note: See update at bottom of story.
Pedestrian deaths are surging across the nation, and analysts are putting much of the blame on drivers and walkers who are looking at their smartphones instead of watching where they are going. Tipsy walking also is part of the problem, with one in three victims legally drunk when they were struck and killed. The latest…
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged Auto and Highway Safety, Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving |
States With Worst Highway Death Rates Favored Trump -- Why?
By Stuart Silverstein on February 1, 2017
November’s presidential contest was bizarre in many ways, but there is one peculiarity that pundits haven’t pounced on: The states with the worst rates of traffic deaths in the country went solidly for Donald Trump while Hillary Clinton swept states with the lowest fatality rates. That odd association between traffic deaths and how states voted…
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged Auto and Highway Safety, Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving |
By Paul Feldman on March 30, 2016
Digital billboards clearly catch the eye of passing motorists. But what is also increasingly clear is that such distractions can heighten safety risks in heavy traffic and other complex driving conditions, a long-time roadway researcher says. That conclusion by Jerry Wachtel, a traffic safety consultant and one-time Federal Highway Administration staffer, came from his recent…
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged Auto and Highway Safety, Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving |
By Myron Levin on February 9, 2015
Why did the billboard cross the road? It sounds like the opening line of a corny joke, but it’s actually a question raised by a baffling glitch in a Federal Highway Administration study on the safety of electronic billboards. Billboards that seem magically to have moved from one side of the highway to the other…
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged Auto and Highway Safety, Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving |
By Myron Levin on February 14, 2012
While battles flare in communities across the country over digital billboards, many state and local officials have hoped that a study launched by the Federal Highway Administration in 2007 would clarify key traffic safety issues. But the results of the politically sensitive research are long overdue, and still are a mystery. Records obtained by FairWarning suggest the reason why the study has remained under wraps: Experts say it was botched.
Posted in FairWarning Investigates | Tagged Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving |
on December 14, 2011
A federal safety agency, in an unprecedented move, is urging states to adopt bans on all non-emergency cellphone use by drivers. The recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board, an advisory and investigative agency, would apply to hands-free as well as hand-held devices. As The New York Times reports, that would go beyond any of…
Posted in Warning Wire | Tagged Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving |
on December 12, 2011
Can you safely talk on a cellphone — or for that matter, check your email or scroll through Google Maps — while driving? Well, of course you can. But those other folks with their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road are a public menace. Unfortunately, that sums up the attitude of…
Posted in Commentary | Tagged Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving |
on December 6, 2011
Federal regulators have imposed a ban starting next month on the use of handheld cellphones by interstate truckers and bus drivers. The ban, intended to curb crashes due to distracted driving, falls short of a recommendation issued in September by the National Transportation Safety Board but opposed by the trucking industry. That agency — which…
Posted in Warning Wire | Tagged Auto and Highway Safety, Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving |
on October 28, 2011
Automakers lately have touted lots of new electronic options for their cars, including technology that lets drivers use voice commands and touch screens to make and receive calls and listen to their text messages. As FairWarning reported last month, though, many of those new gizmos worry safety advocates. They say that the automakers — even…
Posted in Warning Wire | Tagged Auto and Highway Safety, Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving |
on October 14, 2011
Shoppers in the market for a new car can consider a dizzying array of electronic options. The possibilities include everything from video and fancy sound systems to safety features designed to help drivers avoid hazards. Yet among American consumers, safety options appear to be taking a back seat to the infotainment gizmos. At least that…
Posted in Warning Wire | Tagged Auto and Highway Safety, Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving |
Smartphones, Dumb Drivers
on December 12, 2011
Can you safely talk on a cellphone — or for that matter, check your email or scroll through Google Maps — while driving? Well, of course you can. But those other folks with their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road are a public menace. Unfortunately, that sums up the attitude of…
Posted in Commentary | Tagged Cell Phones, Gadgets and Distracted Driving | Leave a comment